Pretty Little Oddities
by Nightosphere Princess
Summary: Rose saw the beauty in all people, no matter how odd or insane they may be. AU in which the gems are human with various mental disorders.
1. Chapter 1

Steven was a very curious child. He was always wondering why everything around him was the way it was and not the way everything else was. His life was a lot different than all the other boys'.

That was okay though.

He loved how Pearl put her collection of perfectly symmetrical swords and spears on a circular rack. She even taught him how to sword fight like a real swordsman, not like the cheesy stuff in the movies. He loved how she sorted everything so body would have trouble finding things or trip on misplaced items. He loved the stories she told him about the people and cultures of long ago. He loved the graceful choreographed way she danced. He loved the taste of her pie.

She never ate the pie though and that made Steven a little sad. Once Steven tried his best to cut a perfect circle of pie for her and put it in the exact center of the plate. He made sure it wasn't too big, because she didn't eat very much. Steven thought her stomach must have been really small because she was so thin. When Pearl asked why there was a completely random piece of sort of oval shaped pie in the almost center of the table, Steven said he felt bad because she didn't know just how good her pie tasted. Pearl smiled and ate it, which made Steven happy. Later Steven heard her throwing up in the toilet. When he asked her about it, she said it was because she was trying a new form of dance and was spinning around too much.

Steven loved Pearl.

Steven loved it when Amethyst dressed up and pretended to be someone else. Sometimes she was a cop who sprayed him with a squirt gun, sometimes she was a professional wrestler and she would let him be her tag team partner, and sometimes she was a magical being who saved the world and stuff. Steven thought she would be a great actor. Amethyst's ideas were so unique and unpredictable, you never knew what she was going to do or say.

Steven liked how she was so calm about everything.

But sometimes it scared him a little. Amethyst liked to walk on the edge of the cliff their house was near, sometimes she would dance on it, just for the thrill of it. Sometimes he worried that she'd fall or get food poisoning from all the bad things she ate, including but not limited to: three month old burritos, old donuts from the dumpster of the local donut shop, straight up fry grease from the Fryman's, the soap from the local car wash, and one time she ate a centipede she found in one of her purses. Pearl wasn't at all pleased with Amethyst's lack of cleanliness, and refused to go into her bedroom. Amethyst just shook it off, saying that Pearl would throw a fit over a bag of M&amp;Ms that wasn't sorted by color. Though Steven sort of enjoyed how Pearl sorted the candy, he liked how Amethyst handled criticism.

Steven loved Amethyst.

Garnet didn't talk much. She'd sometimes just sit still in her chair all day. Her eyes were always covered behind a large pair of sunglasses, giving then no indication of what she was thinking about or looking at. Steven liked her mysterious vibe. Sometimes when she decided to talk, she'd tell weird stories. In a lot of them they were the main characters, only they were different. Steven's favorite stories were the ones where they were part of a team called the Crystal Gems and they fought monsters with weapons that they could summon from the gems embedded in their bodies. Garnet was a great storyteller, she made Steven feel like he was actually living the story.

Sometimes she got a little carried away and a table got split in half, but not perfectly like Pearl would prefer. Pearl usually had a fit and Steven and Amethyst would clean it up. Another habit of Garnets was waking everybody up in the middle of the night because there were bugs crawling on her ceiling. There was rarely ever a bug on her ceiling but Steven tried to squish them anyway, because that made Garnet feel better. One night Steven woke up to find himself in Garnet's muscular arms (she also worked out a lot). She said there was a monster in the room and it tried to eat him, so she attacked it and it was gone now. Steven thought that was Garnet's weird way of saying she loved him and didn't want him to get hurt. Why she had to say it in the middle of the night he had no idea, but it was the thought that counts.

Steven loved Garnet.

Steven never got to know his mother, she passed away due to complications in child birth, but Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl said that she saw the beauty in all people, no matter how odd or insane they may be.

And Steven wanted to do the same.


	2. Chapter 2

Steven usually started his morning with a bowl of fruit loops. Pearl usually put them in separate containers based on color and serving size. Today he was eating the green ones. Because it was Friday, so he had to pick an awesome color, and the first thing he noticed this morning was that the little plant outside his bedroom window had sprouted a new leaf, which was being eaten by a caterpillar, which was also green. Well the first thing he noticed was how great the ocean looked, but he ate the blue ones yesterday.

When Steven got done, he carefully tried to wash the milk and fruit loop particles out of the little container and spoon. He knew Pearl would wash them again before she considered them clean, but it was better if he got a head start on the dishes.

He then went to get dressed which is what the gems (which is how he sometimes referred to them in his head, because they all were named after gems) were doing. Steven put on his usual T-shirt and jeans, and headed to the bathroom to brush his teeth and comb his hair.

Pearl was already there, wearing a teal tank top and orange shorts. Steven remembered going to the store to buy clothes and Pearl was scared she wouldn't find anything in her size. The clothes they bought were the smallest size on the rack and they were form fitting. They looked a little baggy on her now. Steven didn't dare comment on it, Pearl was very emotional when it came to her appearance.

However Amethyst, being the girl she was, brought it up.

"Dang, Pearl, you've lost so much weight, eat a sandwich will ya?!"

Pearl retorted quickly, "Just because you don't care about your weight, does not mean that I have to let myself go as well. I also happen to have a sensitive stomach, unlike you who could eat just anything without as much as a stomach ache. Honestly you need to take other peoples needs into consideration before - Amethyst what are you eating!?"

"What? I stopped listening when you said something about weight," said Amethyst with a mouth full of chalk.

"Errrg. At least when I eat, it's something the FDA considers food!" She's said slamming the bathroom door in Amethyst's face. Steven didn't know how to respond to the argument between the two members of his family, so he just started brushing his teeth.

Steven sometimes wondered how Pearl brushed her teeth, because she really liked everything to be even. Did she brush every tooth a hundred or so times? Or did she brush each one a certain number of times so they all looked the same amount of clean? Like how Amethyst needed a lot of food to feel full and Pearl barely needed any food to feel full. Maybe he was over thinking this.

Steven found city intriguing how Pearl did her hair, making sure every curl was perfectly in place. Here usual hairstyle consisted of two curls on each side of the front of her head, held in place with hairspray, the rest of her air was spiked up with hair gel. She'd then spend quite a few minutes making it "perfect" as she called it. After she was done with her hair she did her makeup. Which consisted of eyeliner and blue eye-shadow, making sure both eyes were perfect took a while as well. When Steven got done combing his hair, she had just started on her eye makeup.

Steven went to the living room where Garnet was already sitting in her chair. This might be one of her quiet days. Steven showed her the drawing he did of themselves as the Crystal Gems. She nodded in approval. He put the drawing in his cheeseburger backpack so he could show his friend Connie at school.


	3. Chapter 3

"Hey Connie!" Shouted Steven. Connie turned around and smiled when she saw Steven behind her.

"Hello, Steven," She said, "What's new?". Steven took off the cheeseburger backpack and showed her the drawing.

"It's the gems and I, like how we are in Garnet's stories," said Steven.

"It's interesting, like Garnet's story," she said. The children slowly continued their walk to school.

"You'll have to see how she tells it," Said Steven "She makes you feel like you're living in it. She's may even write you into it if you're there when she tells it,"

"What role do you think she'd put me in?" asked Connie.

"Most people outside of our little family are usually just themselves, but are still super awesome," said Steven.

"Hey Steven, My Mom has been wanting to set up a dinner party, so she can get to know you and the Gems better," said Connie, "She wanted me to ask you if that was okay,"

"Oh that would be great! I mean I would have to ask them, but Pearl loves cooking, Amethyst loves eating stuff, and Garnet can tell you one of her stories!" Exclaimed Steven.

~8*8~

Garnet watched as Pearl scrubbed the dishes clean, which took her a long time, but that was okay. Pearl was talking about something. eggplant? Weird ways to die? Fireflies? Whatever it was, Garnet liked hearing her talk, her voice was very calming today.

Amethyst walked into the room, it was silent except for the running water.

"Pearl, you've been washing that plate for over thirty minutes. I am pretty sure it's clean," she's said. The plate landed at the bottom of the sink, and the girls' argument started over again.

"Like you know how long it takes to clean something!"

"I know you don't need half an hour to clean sandwich crumbs off a plate!"

"Oh I'm sorry I don't want us to live in filth!"

"Is that why you haven't used a single dish in three weeks?"

"I eat food all the time!"

"Pearl, I found your stupid notebook!"

"I told you to stay away from my things!"

"Pearl, I want to help you, but every time I-"

"You're just jealous of my weight loss!"

"No Pearl, I'm - "

Pearl stormed out of the room. Amethyst didn't bother following her. No matter what she said, Pearl wouldn't listen, and that scared her. Amethyst didn't want to think about what might happen if Pearl didn't get any help. She didn't want to have to watch Steven cry or explain to him why Pearl had died. She didn't want to have to write a eulogy, let alone actually speak one. She didn't want to have to be Steven's main caretaker.

She didn't want to have to bury her older sister.


	4. Chapter 4

Steven opened the front door of his house with the same youthful excitement he opened it with everyday. Pearl, who had now moved on to dusting the China cabinet, was the first to be greeted by the young boy.

"Hi, Pearl!" He said, setting a pile of mail on the countertop, "I got the mail for you!"

"Oh, thank you, Steven." She said as she picked up the pile.

"Let's see…, another ad for Mayor Dewey's reelection, fifty percent off coupon for any Lion Lickers product at The Big Donut, an ad for Fun Land's event on Saturday, the car payment for this month, and a letter from…" Pearl's eyes widened as she read the name above the return address on the letter.

Peridot Edelsteine

"Who's the letter from, Pearl?" Asked Steven out of curiosity.

"Oh, somebody who lives out of town. They might have gotten the wrong address," she said rather quickly.

"What's their name?" Asked Steven. Steven being the child he was, didn't think Pearl was hiding anything, he was just rather curious.

"Well it looks like her name is Dot," Pearl didn't like lying. However She'd still sometimes bend the truth, like when she threw up that piece of pie she actually had been practicing a new dance that involved spinning, she just worded it in a way that made it look like that was the reason she threw up. Instead of saying that the woman's name was Alice or something else, Pearl had said her name was Dot, because it wasn't a full out lie. Dot was the woman's childhood nickname.

"Now that that's settled, how was school, Steven?" Said Pearl, putting the letter in her back pocket, and the rest of the mail in the "need to sort" section of the little blue box labeled "MAIL".

"It was great, Ms. Sugar thought my drawing of us from Garnet's story was awesome!"

Pearl smiled, remembering how the art teacher at the school were they grew up would make comments about Garnet's "eccentric imagination". Which eventually became their mother's retort to anybody who dared call her "weird".

"That's great, Steven!" Said Pearl.

"Oh and Connie's Mom wants to plan a dinner party so they can get to know us better,"

"Oh That would be great! It's been forever since I've hosted a dinner party for other people,"

"Didn't you make dinner for Kofi and his family that one time?"

"Yes but that was nearly six months ago. More importantly, is anybody in Connie's family allergic to anything? Is this supposed to be a formal or casual occasion? Does Connie have braces? What time would this meal take place? What Is their tolerance level of spicy food? What do they drink at dinner? What material do they prefer their cups be made of?…" Pearl rattled off various questions regarding dinner that ranged from necessary concerns to flat out ridiculous ones. Steven had trouble keeping track of all her questions.

"I'll give you her mom's phone number," he said.

"Yes, that would be really helpful,"

Steven gave Pearl the number and went to work on his math homework. Pearl put the slip of paper with the phone number on it in her pocket and went upstairs to her bedroom. First she took the two papers out of her pocket and placed them on her desk. She then neatly wrote the phone number in the contacts section of her planer. She put the planner back on the shelf, right between last years planner and her red notebook.

She stared at the letter in front of her. With butterflies in her stomach, Pearl broke the seal on the envelope.

It contained a letter, and a photo from Lapis' Polaroid camera, which was old even when the photo was taken. The picture was from 18 years ago. 13 year old Garnet, 14 year old Peridot, and 15 year old Pearl were sitting on the porch swing in their mother's back yard. Pearl's red hair was shoulder length and held back with a headband. She was wearing a rather conservative blue dress that had a white peter pan collar. Garnet sat right next to her, wearing a pair of big sunglasses and a long, straight weave. Her yellow jacket, which was borrowed from her mother, was very big on her. Dot sat at the other end, her blond hair was thick and cut just below her ears. The teenage girl was young and a little reckless, as highlighted by the bump growing under her green sweater.

Pearl remembered that it had been a very cold day as far as summers went. The sun was shining brightly and Lapis wanted to take as many pictures as she could before the sun went back behind the clouds. That was the day Dot had started referring to the bun in her oven as Amy. It was the day Garnet had finally decided to take her medicine, after an incident involving a shard of broken glass the month before. The first flower on Rose's plant bloomed, and Pearl had finished reading "Pride and Prejudice". It was a beautiful day.

Pearl set the photo down, and picked up the letter.

Dear Pearl (because you'll probably be the one who actually reads this)

It's been forever since we've written each other, even longer since we've talked face to face. It's strange really, Mother was the one who brought us all together, and we haven't talked since her funeral. I'm sorry I missed Rose's, I would have came but I had exams and couldn't afford a plane ticket. You were all very adamant that I graduate college. I remember at the funeral, when Rose asked me when I was going to college, and I said next week, and then she hugged me. Then Amy put her little arms around my legs, even though her head was barely higher than my knee. I love that picture of her and Garnet standing next to each other with the yard stick propped against the wall. I can't believe she's eighteen already.

I know you're not going to write back, but I just want you to know that I love you and hope you're all doing okay.

Love, Dot


	5. Chapter 5

~Flashback 25 years~

Lapis Lazuli Edelsteine ran around the house with her little blue fairy princess outfit that probably needed washed, pretending to fly. Her older sisters Peridot and Pearl were arguing over the blocks, Rose was brushing the cat, and Garnet was drawing something that she said was a cat but looked like a yellow blob.

Selene, the babysitter, wondered how Ms. Edelsteine handled them all on her own.

"You two cut it out!" Said Selene. The two girls, both of whom were seven years old (Pearl would turn eight in a couple months), were constantly competing with each other. At the moment the argument seemed to be that neither girl had enough blocks to complete their block structures and both wanted the other to give some of their blocks up so the other could finish. The girls' didn't stop when told, but of course arguments never do, but Lapis being as careless as all three year olds are ran into both block structures. Nine year old Rose immediately rushed to the little girl's side, Pearl and Peridot immediately started a competition of who could put the blocks away in the neatest fashion.

Lapis didn't receive any injuries bigger than a faint bruise, but was upset that the wire in her toy fairy wings had bent a little. A problem that was easily fixed.

Once Lapis had run off, Rose sat next to Garnet at the table. Her hair was tied into pigtails, which resembled little black puffballs, with hairbands with big, red, star-shaped beads in them.

"Your drawing looks really nice," said Rose.

"It's a cat,". Rose looked at the drawing, almost able to make out a long poofy tail from the yellow blob. She remembered when Garnet was younger and she had yanked on Snowcone's tail. Fortunately for Garnet, the cat had his front paws declawed.

~five years after the events of the previous flashback~

Garnet reached over the table for the container of red paint, only for it to be taken by the girl across from her. Art was Garnet's last class before school ended. Today they were going to finish their fruit bowl paintings before being assigned partners for their next project. Garnet just needed to paint this one little portion of it red and she would be done. The other girl, Faith, didn't look very pleased with her painting after she set the container down.

Garnet was finally able to finish her painting, and unlike the other girl, she felt very pleased with the finished product. Garnet set the painting on the drying rack, for some reason the boy behind her, Alex, laughed when he saw it.

Garnet cleaned up the mess on the table that she had created, and doodled a little on a price of scrap paper. Mrs. Patrick was the kind of teacher who didn't want students to do any work from outside her class.

After a few minutes when all the students were done painting, Mrs. Patrick called for the students attention. The students whispered things like "I hope I don't get paired with…" or "I have to have…". As Mrs. Patrick read off her list, some of the children silently shouted "yes," or "It's not fair!".

"Celia and…". The brunette tensed up in anticipation, there always seemed to be an hour long pause between names.

"…Garnet,".

Garnet immediately perked up upon hearing her name. Celia groaned, and others breathed a sigh of relief.

"I can't believe I have to do a project with HER,"

"Ha Ha you got stuck with the idiot psycho!"

"You're gonna fail this project miserably,"

Garnet went home and told her mother everything that had happened.

" They don't understand you just as much as you don't understand them, and some narrow minded people can be very cruel to people they can't seem to figure out. What's important is that you're smart enough not to do the same and sink to their level,"

Garnet found her mother's words to be very wise, but also not very helpful.


	6. Chapter 6

"Oh yes, trans fats are the absolute worst! Oh and Let's not even begin to talk about all the added sugar they put in things! One of the many reasons I almost never go to restaurants or buy precooked meals…" Pearl seemed to be enjoying herself, and that made Steven happy. Dr. Maheswaran and Pearl had been talking on the phone for twenty minutes and so far everything looked good.

"So tonight, seven O'Clock, at our lovely home, which is located near fifth street along the beach on that big hill, you can't miss it, but of course our official address is…"

Steven saw a spider on the inside of the window, acted as if it wanted to go outside. Steven opened the window for it.

"Okay so I have Seven hours to prepare the meal, clean the house and make everyone look presentable," said Pearl with a huge sigh "Not impossible at all," she said that sounding a little frantic. "Steven, go get your nice shirt,"

"The one you threw out because it had a funny smelling stain on it and it was too small for me?"

"Yes,that one," She said flatly with an irritated sigh. "I don't have enough time to drive to…"

"It's okay Pearl," Steven said with with his usual childish glee. "Amethyst or Garnet can drive me to the clothing store to get a new shirt, it'll be fun and you won't have to sacrifice any time!"

"I don't know, if I trust Amethyst driving the car…"

"I heard the words drive, car, and Amethyst!" Amethyst cheered as she walked into the room. Pearl rolled her eyes. "Come on Pearl I've driven it like once since I've got my license!"

"Which took you twice to get I might add,"

"Well it's not like I uprooted a tree or anything!"

"That was fifteen years ago!" Screamed Garnet from the bathroom.

"Amethyst I don't have time for this!"

"Then let me drive the car to get Steven and Garnet decent dinner outfits!"

"What happened to Garnet's dinner dress?!"

"It went out of style! That things older than Steven and the colors are all faded!"

"She can wear one of my old dresses,"

"Garnet's butt would never fit in your old dresses!"

"Fine. The keys are on the hook by the door labeled car keys. Take Garnet with you and don't be spending money on extra stuff!"

"Yea!"

The three of them headed to the nearest clothing store in Pearl's black Chevrolet. Amethyst turned the radio to some station that was playing upbeat techno music before they even hit the road.

"Just clothes shopping with my big sis and little bro whose not my bro but bro just sounds a lot cooler than nephew!"

"Well technically he's your c…"

"Didn't mom say that sisterhood isn't about what Lady parts you came out of!" Amethyst said angrily.

"Those weren't her exact words but yes,"

"Hey Garnet did you really uproot a tree with a car?" Said Steven changing the subject.

"Yes! It was so cool looking!" Said Amethyst

"You remember that?" Asked Garnet.

"Yeah, isn't that what that scar on your arm is from?"

"No, that was something else…". Amethyst felt bad for bringing that up, she didn't know much about her sisters' lives from before she was born, obviously that memory struck a cord with Garnet.

"Didn't Mom take you to the eye doctor afterword?"

"I had more cuts and bruises from tripping and running into things with those new pair of glasses than I had from the wreck!"

"What did the glasses look like?" Asked Steven.

"I think they had huge lenses and brown frames, they looked ridiculous,"

"Wasn't that before you started growing out your afro?"

"Yes,"

"That old weave was so boring, it looked like everybody else's hair!" Said Amethyst flipping her mess of platinum hair behind her shoulder.

Amethyst parked in front of the clothing store and the three of them got out of the car. The sound of some Taylor Swift song filled their ears as they walked through the automatic doors.

"Okay, little boy's dress shirts, where would they be?" Said Steven looking around. Women's underwear, women's dresses… " Hey Garnet there's a nice dress!"

The little boy ran and came back with a pink and red floral printed sundress.

"No,"

"About this?" Said Steven, holding up a simple red long sleeved dress, " It would look really good with a black pair of leggings and that scarf you wore to last years parent teacher conferences.

"I don't know,"

"How about this, with your yellow sweater and red necklace," he said holding up a black skirt with red trim.

"When did you become such a great outfit coordinator, Steven?"

"It's like my favorite part of Sims! That and coming up with fun romance stories for the characters!"

(Author's note: Thank you everyone for reading this story, your reviews have been greatly appreciated! Sorry for the long wait! Technical issues and writing a novel have made it hard to update, but I plan to post a lot more updates, as well as drawings relating to the story on Tumblr {same name} in the next few weeks. Thank you for your patience!)


	7. Chapter 7

*Flash back 27 years*

"But Mom!" Whined Four year old Peridot. She made sure to stomp as loudly as she could on every stair on the way down to get her point across. Juliette breathed a heavy sigh.

"Peridot, it's not the end of the world, it's just a change,"

"But I like everything the way it was before!" She screamed. Meanwhile Rose was thinking about what the new baby would look like, what her name would be. Maybe it would be a brother. Juliette pulled a book off the bookshelf.

"Peridot, look at this," she said showing her a page in the book.

"It's a green rock!" Said the little girl.

"It's freshly mined Peridot,"

Peridot raised an eyebrow, that looked nothing like the shiny, diamond-like gem that their grandmother wore on a silver bracelet.

"Gemstones have to go through a lot of change before they become the beautiful jewels that go in Jewelry. Sometimes Change can make people better as well. Now can you put your toys in your toy box like you were asked?"

Peridot begrudgingly ran to her room and did what she was told. She took her plush toys off her bed and put them in the teleporter she had made out of a large cardboard box, pipe cleaners, and colored pencils. On the bright side, she thought, Mom was allowing her to keep the boxes from the bulk containers of diapers, she could make lots of things out of those.

The next day, Juliette hung the little green sign that'd said "Peridot" in fancy writing as well as and ampersand made with wire and beads, on the door of the girls' shared bedroom.

Pearl asked Peridot if she and her Panda wanted to join her tea party.

"Spock doesn't play pretend tea parties!"

"Fine! Rose and I will drink tea!"

*7 and a half or so years after events of previous flashback*

When you walked into that bedroom you knew exactly whose side was whose. Peridot rarely made her bed, while Pearl's was neatly made each morning, care was even put into the placement of each individual plush toy. Peridot had Star Trek posters and articles cut out of science magazines on her wall; While Pearl had a posters of Ballet dancers, and magazine cut outs of Michaelangelo paintings, The Eiffel tower, and various ancient ruins. Peridot's shelves were filled with Science Books, Stare Trek figurines, science fair awards, and the bits and pieces from Rose's Easy Bake Oven. Pearl's had books about ancient cultures, a Jewelry box with a wind up key that made a ballerina figure dance when it was opened, awards for fencing and Ballet, and a few small figurines that were given as gifts when one of their aunts or uncles went on vacation.

Pearl enjoyed the beauty of the past, while Peridot enjoyed the technology and promise of the future.

They were very different people.

And fought.

A lot.

One night Pearl couldn't help but notice how disorganized Peridot's shelves were. Peridot was downstairs, on a quest to find blue paint, Rose, who was adding pink her brown mess of curly hair, said that she would help her look when she was done. Lapis, who turned out to be her favorite of the bunch (even if her presence meant having to share a room with That Other One), said she had let Garnet borrow her blue paint. Ugh, now she had walk back up the stairs.

Garnet shared a room with Rose, the two of them didn't have a line drawn in the exact center of the room. Rose, Pearl, and Garnet got along as well as all sisters should, at least that's what their grandmother said. Peridot and Garnet, while they never considered killing the other in her sleep, were not overly friendly with each other. This probably had something to do with the fact that Peridot really didn't try to be all friendly to Garnet when she first came to the family, and Garnet wasn't one to actively pursue friendship.

"Lapis said that you have the blue paint," she said. Garnet handed it to her without another word.

"Okay," she said. She closed the door behind her, accidentally knocking over Garnet's door sign, she put it back up hoping nobody would notice.

Meanwhile, Pearl was busy organizing the contents of Peridot's shelves.

"Why are you messing with my things!" Screamed Peridot as she walked into the room.

"Because "A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" should be located in between two other fictional novels based on some sort of organizational strategy, not in…" Pearl screamed before Peridot screamed back.

"That still doesn't give you a right to touch my stuff!"

This went on for a while. Eventually Peridot cracked one of the lenses on her glasses while falling down the stairs.

"Look what you've done now, Pearl!"

"I've done nothing, you're the one who started it!"

They fought like this a lot.


End file.
